


hot diggity dog

by dorkysetters



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Animal Death, I will add more tags as I go !!, M/M, oiyama is so good im cry, possibly some iwaoi angst, they're aged up so that yamaguchi is a third year and oikawa is out of high school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 04:50:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12763548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkysetters/pseuds/dorkysetters
Summary: “I’m so tiiiireeed,” he groans, and Mieko licks his face once, twice, three times in response. Oikawa resumes petting her. “This is getting ridiculous, Ko-chan. I could have sworn I actually heard colors this morning.”How much sleep had he gotten this week? Fourteen hours? Thirteen? He had stopped keeping track as the numbers had decreased over time. It was annoying to always know you weren’t getting enough sleep, and even more annoying to know you couldn’t do anything about it.(Aka, Oikawa is a disaster, and so is Yamaguchi, but it's nothing that a bunch of dogs can't fix)





	hot diggity dog

He’d never really been much of a dog person, in the past. Oikawa had always preferred cats; they left you alone most of the time, always wanting to do their own thing. He understood that, and respected it. 

 

The bell above the entrance jingles cheerfully as he pushes the door open, a chorus of muffled barking welcoming him. Tiny “mrrps” reach his ears a moment later as a wiry, grey cat bounces over to greet him. “Ya-hoo, Rika-chan.” He squats down, allowing the tiny cat to rub against his legs a couple times before picking her up and holding her close to his chest like a baby. 

 

He makes his way past the entry and to the front desk, leaning against the cool wood. He puts the cat on top of the desk and she hops into the lap of a young woman sitting behind a computer. She doesn’t make any sign of acknowledging Oikawa’s arrival, and Oikawa fingers a tiny homemade card for a moment that reads “Welcome to Hot Diggity Dog!” in bright purple, sparkly letters while he waits to see if she will. The ridiculous name of the shelter was one of the reasons he had been drawn here in the first place, about six months ago. After a few moments he accepts defeat, deciding to speak up first. “Hello, Hana-chan~” 

 

She leans into the computer, squinting at the screen. “Hand me my glasses,” she demands in response, holding out one hand. The other one continues typing away awkwardly, and Oikawa rolls his eyes at her lackluster welcome and unnecessarily persistent work ethic. Despite that, he leans over the desk, searching through the massive amount of stuff for a moment before happening upon the aforementioned glasses. Hana is the messiest organized person Oikawa has ever met, and her ability to keep things together when everything looked like it was falling apart was something he secretly admired about her. 

 

“Busy today?” Oikawa leans against the desk and rests his chin on his hand. 

 

“Nope.” 

 

“I’m going back, then.” He replies cheerfully, taking himself off the desk and rocking back and forth on his heels for a moment to see if she’ll say anything in protest before heading to a door labeled “Pawesome dogs ahead!” “See ya in a few.”

 

Oikawa hears a grunt in response. As he opens the door, the constant drone of typing is immediately drowned out. He’s greeted with a loud chorus of barking, some of which dies down as the dogs recognize him. He smiles softly and waves. “How is everyone?” 

 

He goes around to each kennel one by one, greeting the dogs personally. Although most of the dogs never stay around for long, he makes a point of getting to know all of them before they go. There’s Sachiko, a bubbly pug who has an unusual appreciation for sweet potatoes, which Oikawa attempts to sneak in for her every time he visits. She’s the only purebred in the shelter at the moment, and Oikawa coos at her for a moment before going on to say hi to someone else. Ayame is next, a mutt with a beautiful coat of silvery-blue and black. Then Toshiko, Kobe, Rokuro, Isamu, Kiyoshi. He pets them all individually for a moment before heading to Mieko’s kennel. 

 

Mieko has been at the shelter the longest, and Oikawa often favors her during his visits. There is nothing wrong with her, but potential adopters tend to take one look at her age and tutt in disapproval. Twelve years is impressive for a dog, but what was the point of adopting a pet that could pass on at any moment?

 

Mieko was usually free to roam the shelter; her calm nature made her an excellent member of the welcoming committee. Today was Friday, however, which meant the shelter had been thoroughly cleaned and all the dogs put in their kennels. Oikawa put his fingers through the thin bars, letting the dog lick his fingers for a moment before opening the kennel. Mieko stepped out carefully and made her way to Oikawa’s lap right away. Mieko had decided to suddenly turn into a lap dog the moment she’d met Oikawa, something she’d never been before, and she made a good one, despite her enormous size. 

 

Hana had stared at him the first time Mieko and Oikawa had been introduced, tilting her head in confusion in a way that matched the motion dogs make when you ask if they want a treat. “She never does that,” she had said accusingly, as if Oikawa had stolen the real Mieko and replaced her with a new, cuddly version.

 

He had laughed, and hugged the dog closer to him. “I can’t help that Ko-chan likes me best~”

 

He laughs now, burying his face into the familiar coat. Mieko was a beautiful dog; the shelter guessed she was a mix of golden retriever and german shepard. “I’ve missed you too, Ko-chan.”

 

Mieko starts licking him, probably deciding that Oikawa’s face could do with a little grooming. She’s probably right; it’s been three days since he’s had anything more than a brief rinse down in the locker room after practice, and it’s probably no coincidence that everyone on the street had kept a considerable distance away from him on his way here. That, and the concerningly dark eyebags developing under his eyes. He hadn’t had time to put any concealer on this morning, and the massive amount of coffee he had drunk had just managed to make him look more tired, somehow. 

 

“How was my day, you ask?” Mieko hadn’t asked, but she looks at him with deep brown eyes, as if prompting him to go on. 

 

“It was terrible.” He takes his face out of Mieko’s fur and starts petting her. “I slept through my alarms for  _ thirty minutes _ this morning. All ten of them!” He’d run to practice, but had been late anyway. His new team had watched sympathetically from the court where they were doing drills while he jogged laboriously around the gym forty six times, one for each minute he had been late. He pouts at the dog, taking her face in his hands and leaning in to kiss her on the nose. 

 

His face warms at the memory. Six months on the Japanese National Volleyball Team and he still wasn’t used to… anything. He liked his teammates, but he wasn’t as close to them as he would have liked to be. At Seijou, he would have been teased as he ran laps around the gym, and he would grinned good naturedly and shot some teasing words back, possibly earning a volleyball in the head from a certain someone. His current teammates had done none of that, although Bokuto had patted him on the back and promised to bring him ice cream the next day, if he managed to remember. Oikawa wasn’t counting on getting ice cream tomorrow. 

 

“I’m so tiiiireeed,” he groans, and Mieko licks his face once, twice, three times in response. Oikawa resumes petting her. “This is getting ridiculous, Ko-chan. I could have sworn I actually  _ heard _ colors this morning.”

 

How much sleep had he gotten this week? Fourteen hours? Thirteen? He had stopped keeping track as the numbers had decreased over time. It was annoying to always know you weren’t getting enough sleep, and even more annoying to know you couldn’t do anything about it. 

 

Oikawa wasn’t a starter, yet. He hadn’t expected to be, of course. There was no way he would be the best choice for starting setter in a  _ national _ team, but he hadn’t expected to be faced with as much raw talent as his teammates presented him with. Most, if not all of them, were geniuses in some way or another. He felt miles behind where skill level was concerned, and the only option he had to lessen the gap was to practice, even if that cost him sleep.

 

He stayed behind to practice long after everyone else had left, Bokuto often joining him. Bokuto wasn’t a genius, either. Oikawa appreciated the camaraderie they shared because of this, and liked the fact that Bokuto never berated him for overworking, or forced him to go home. They were both equally worried, he thought, about falling behind. They enabled each other to practice as much as possible, and although that was good for volleyball, it really sucked when it came to all other areas of life. Suddenly Oikawa had no time to do anything. He ate on his way to practice, nibbling on a granola bar or two. He slept during the breaks they got during practice, catching ten, fifteen minute of shut eye here and there. It was exhausting. 

 

“Can I sleep in here, Ko-chan? Is that allowed?” he didn’t wait for a response, and laid back on the cold concrete floor, keeping his legs crossed so as not to disturb the dog resting there. “This is extremely uncomfo-”

 

He pauses in surprise. Someone was leaning over him, face twisted in confusion, probably at the sight of Oikawa’s awkward position on the floor. This was strange, for a multitude of reasons. One, he hadn’t heard the door open. Two, it wasn’t Hana, and Oikawa knew for a fact she was the only one supposed to be on duty after hours. Three, he knew that face. What it was doing in the shelter though, he couldn’t figure out.

 

“... Oikawa-san?” The face questions.

 

“Jump floater-kun?” Oikawa responds, his voice equally full of questions. Mieko saunters off his lap in search of better things and makes her way to the other boy, who bends down to pet her. 

 

The jump floater in question blushes, and looks down at the dog to try and hide the warmth in his face. “It’s, uh, Yamaguchi, actually.”

 

Oikawa hums in recognition and doesn’t bother getting up. Too tired, too much effort. He does however uncross his legs and brings his feet to rest on the ground before his butt. “What brings you here, Yama-chan?”

 

Yamaguchi blushes again. He looks uncomfortable, like someone who walks into the wrong classroom during school. “I, ah, volunteer here. Starting today.” 

 

Oikawa pouts at this new piece of information as he rolls it around in his mind for a moment. He doesn’t dislike Yamaguchi, although he supposes they don’t know each other well enough for him to make that judgement yet. It’s just, the shelter is supposed to be  _ his _ sanctuary. It’s somewhere he goes to leave volleyball behind, to forget about practice and geniuses and not even getting to be on the bench during matches. Yamaguchi is too closely connected to volleyball for his liking, too much of a reminder of the thing he comes to the shelter to get away from. 

 

“That’s great!” he replies, wiping whatever look of frustration he has on his face away, replacing it with a grin that probably looks very creepy upside down. “I’m sure you’ll love it here.”

 

Yamaguchi smiles weakly. “Yeah… me too.” He gives Mieko another pat on the head before standing up. “I better go see if Hana-san needs anything… It was nice seeing you.” He bows and hastily leaves the room. As he shuts the door behind him, Oikawa groans, looking up at where Mieko, who walks over to him. 

 

“I guess this was nice while it lasted, Ko-chan.”     

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not exactly sure how long this is going to be, but we'll see :0 i just,,, /clenches fist love oiyama so much


End file.
